SMASH HIT IVAN TOPS THE CHARTS
IVAN Toney chortles when he is asked about the various Championship clubs reportedly tussling for his signature this summer.
“To be honest, I was waiting for PSG to come in,” says the Peterborough striker. “But they couldn’t sell Neymar so... you know.”
Joking aside, Toney has every right to set lofty ambitions. Before kick-off this weekend, the 23-year-old was the leading league scorer in England, his eight goals for Posh eclipsing even the great Sergio Aguero.
And this is no random hot streak. Since ditching an itinerant life as a perpetual loanee at Newcastle United to join Peterborough in August last year, Toney has either scored or assisted 39 goals in 63 appearances.
That’s one every 119 minutes, and a mammoth 35 per cent of all the goals scored by Peterborough over the period.
“I’m just doing my job, really,” says Toney, who became the youngest player in Northampton Town history when he made his debut as a 16-year-old in 2012.
Achievable
“But to be top scorer in England… yeah, it’s a good feeling. Before the season started, I said to all my family and friends that I wanted to be the top scorer in League One. That is my aim.”
And if history is any indicator, an eminently achievable one. In the past 11 years, Jack Marriott, Britt Assombalonga, Craig Mackail-Smith and Aaron McLean have all won golden boots whilst decked in Peterborough colours.
Three of those came under the tutelage of gung-ho gaffer Darren Ferguson, below, now in his third spell at London Road.
“Before coming to Peterborough, I did look at all the strikers who did well here,” says the speedy forward. “And with Aaron being on the coaching staff here, it was obviously a big help.
“Any striker would enjoy playing in this team. The manager likes attacking and we’ve got the players who can do it.
“His philosophy is to outscore the opposition and to entertain the fans. When we’re 1-0 or 2-0 up, he demands that we score more. I think you saw that when we beat Rochdale 6-0 last weekend.
“The team is set up to feed the strikers and I’m taking full advantage of it. I just want to keep going and if I can emulate any of those players, that’s great.” Toney has already played in the Premier League. Signed by Newcastle for a fee of £350,000 in 2015, he made his debut against Chelsea as a 19-yearold and later appeared in a 3-3 draw against Manchester United at St James’ Park. That, though, was a good as it got and, after successful loan spells at Wigan and Scunthorpe, Toney made the permanent switch to Posh. At the time, he had a year left on his deal. Wasn’t Toney - like many young players tempted to hang around in the north east and take the money?
Stronger
“Ha,” he laughs again. “What money? I was on pennies! Listen, I enjoyed my time up there. You get more physical. You get stronger. You realise you have to be more clinical in front of goal because if you miss chances, the team will get punished. They were all good lessons that I’ve brought down to League One.
“But there comes a point where it has to stop. It doesn’t matter if you’re at a big club or a small one. If you aren’t playing games, you start to question yourself and think ‘Am I really a football player?’. You have to drop down the leagues to prove you are.
“I knew that if I could get settled in a team I would score goals and thankfully that’s how it worked out. I’m grateful for the opportunity I got here and hopefully I’m repaying them.”
It is also why Toney didn’t agitate for a move this summer, despite Peterborough rejecting concrete bids from the likes of Barnsley, Charlton and Middlesbrough, who reportedly offered £4m.
“Honestly, I didn’t really know anyone had come in until after the window,” he says. “But as you can see, it didn’t affect me. I’m still scoring goals for Peterborough. Nothing could unsettle me right now.”